1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer security, and more particularly but not exclusively to methods and apparatus for discovering malicious locations in a public computer network, such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Background Art
As is well known, the Internet is an example of a public computer network accessible to almost anyone with a computer running a web browser. The Internet allows access to a wide variety of information from all over the world, twenty four hours a day. Although most locations on the Internet are probably safe, it is well documented that the Internet is home to all sorts of malicious locations. These malicious locations are in the form of websites or web servers configured to receive stolen confidential information (e.g., credit card information, passwords to online accounts, etc.), surreptitiously download malicious code (e.g., viruses) to visiting computers, and mimic legitimate websites to trick visitors into entering confidential information. One way of protecting against these “Web threats” is to compile and maintain a listing of addresses of known malicious locations on the Internet. The listing may be used to detect when an Internet user is navigating to a malicious website, and to block access to the malicious website or at least so inform the user. Embodiments of the present invention pertain to methods and apparatus for discovering malicious locations, such as uniform resource locators (URL) of malicious websites on the Internet, in a timely and effective manner.